Collector Profile: Jacob Lennarthson

I am a 19 year old student from Örebro, Sweden. My favorite subject is history, especially the late middle ages. Except for Tolkien, my biggest interests are philosophy, film and art. I discovered Tolkien when I was 7 years old and he has been my favorite author ever since.

How did you get started in collecting?

At first I collected Toybiz action figures; I had read “The Lord of the rings” and “The Hobbit” but did not find much interest in books. I got my first own edition of Lotr when I was 9 years old and some years later I had most of Tolkien’s fictional works that were translated into Swedish. It did not feel good to only have one edition of each book, so I started collecting English editions as well. To sum it all up: The collection was not complete to me and I will continue collecting until I think it is complete.

What do you collect?

I try to focus on Scandinavian translations and complete sets, even though I have a lot of books that are neither of these. First priority is Swedish and Norwegian translations. I have a long way to go, but I will try to collect every one of Tolkien’s books translated into Swedish and Norwegian. With a little help from the Internet it is not impossible.

How big is your collection?

There are approximately 350 objects in my collection (plus a few hundred trading cards); about 200 of them are books. The rest is a mix of action figures, board games, accessories and posters.

What has been your greatest find so far?

That would probably be a Norwegian hardback edition of “The lord of the rings” from 2002. It is not the rarest book, but definitely the most beautiful.

What does collecting mean to you?

The greatest thing with collecting is not about owning books, but finding and receiving them. Sometimes I am on the Internet for hours, just looking for Tolkien books. Looking for the books is much more of a pleasure than just having them in the bookshelf, finding a new book is like being a child at Christmas.